FIREBORN – Reflections (2023)
Fronted by powerhouse singer Jenny, and rounded out by Dennis, Raphael, Flo and Chris, German Hard Rock act FIREBORN produce timeless music from the genre with a modern, updated sound production. Despite her young age, the petite singer stands out with her powerful to delicate voice, extensive range, and incredible confidence.
Formerly known as Dislike Silence, ”Reflections” is their first album since changing their name to FIREBORN. The songs are modern and very influenced by American hard rock, with a lot of atmosphere, energy and a great sense of melody.
Jenny vocal color and sounds quite similar to Halestorm’s vocalist Lzzy Hale, however, overall, the band’s style is more classic hard rock in song-structure. Musically ”Reflections” is a rollercoaster ride through a range of modern and classic Hard Rock styles, big on guitar and even bigger on melody. The whole album is as catchy as hell and just begs to be played at high volume.
Opening track ‘Young Heart Dies’ is the perfect introduction to the Fireborn sound, with colossal slabs of guitar powerchords, harmonised twin guitar leads and the sort of chorus that is so catchy that it should come with a health warning. Jenny’s vocals have just the right amount of rasp and bite as she roars her way through the lyrics. It is a hugely powerful statement of intent for sure.
‘As Long As I Love You’ is a modern Hard Rock anthem built on staccato riffs and gargantuan melodies with savagely throat-shredding vocals with melodic harmonised guitars and this is pretty much the theme of the entire album.
The production is big and beefy with a real intensity to the massed layers of guitar and the powerful drumming.
‘Angel In Need’ drops the pace and the intensity for a Hard Rock ballad which, despite very familiar chord sequences, hits the spot with oodles of melody, both in the vocals and the lead guitars. The use of cleaner guitars and quieter passages works well here to break up the guitar onslaught and add further interest and dynamism to the sound.
It is followed by ‘The Eye of a Hurricane’ which is more mid-tempo and continues the theme of huge melodies and enormous guitar-fuelled modern Hard Rock instrumentation before ‘Deep Blue Water’ which has a more ballad-like feel.
‘Proud and Ashamed’ picks up the pace again and demonstrates the importance of track sequencing in the overall impact of an album on the listener, as this was exactly what the doctor ordered after the slightly slower pace and less intensity in the preceding tracks.
This is followed by ‘Guide You Home’, a quite delightful acoustic number where vocalist Jenny shows her more sensitive side with some delightfully clean vocals before opening up with that wonderful rasp on the choruses. Layered choirs of backing vocals add further delicacy to a really lovely track. It’s very different to the rest of the album, yet fits in beautifully.
The Hard Rock returns with a vengeance on the mighty ‘Pack of Wolves’ which is characterised by heavy, chugging, down-tuned guitars and more insanely catchy melodies.
This is followed by ‘You Seem So Far’ which again combines the massed heavy guitars with cleaner picked passages and more insanely catchy vocal melodies. This is one of those tracks where the chord sequences are achingly familiar, but it just doesn’t matter because the combination of vocal and guitar melodies gives it its own identity. It is also a great example of how having a good and secure grasp of how to write a good Pop-Rock hook can add massively to the Hard Rock vibe of an album. This track is tailor-made for Rock Radio and for playing at ear-splitting volume in an open topped car roaring down the open road – awesome stuff indeed.
The remaining tracks certainly do not disappoint. ‘Ferryman’, ‘Punchline’ and ‘Malicious Rose’ follow the well-established themes of thunderous guitar, unfathomably catchy melodies, power vocals and highly melodic twin lead guitar solos.
We’re hitting the home straight now and with the first single ‘Done With You’, Fireborn once again manage to combine massive melodies with punchy Hard Rock power. The riffs in this one are probably the heaviest on the album and the groove is relentless in its intensity while Jenny vents her bile on a savage lead vocal.
The final track, ‘Set Off’, contains more Pop-savvy hooklines and is a ridiculously catchy and up-tempo way to end an absolute cracker of an album.
”Reflections” pack exactly what we want from a modern Hard Rock album: a classic feeling but with modern delivery. It’s big, bold, brash, insanely melodic and unafraid to wear its Pop influences on its sleeve amongst all the thundering Hard Rock. The guitar work is excellent – highly melodic with a load of harmonised twin leads as well as some cool shredding moments and colossal riffs and powerchords.
However the star of the show is undoubtedly vocalist Jenny, whose pipes are absolutely awesome throughout.
Highly Recommended
01 – Young Heart Dies
02 – As Long As I Love You
03 – Angel In Need
04 – The Eye Of A Hurricane
05 – Deep Blue Water
06 – Proud And Ashamed
07 – Guide You Home
08 – Pack Of Wolves
09 – You Seem So Far
10 – Ferryman
11 – Punchline
12 – Malicious Rose
13 – Done With You
14 – Set Off
Jenny – Vocals
Dennis – Guitar
Flo – Guitar
Raphael – Drums
Chris – Bass
Pre order:
atomicfire-records.com/product/56900/reflections
